Math

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT MATH

The new math- and science-focused magnet school that will take the place of the fourth-through-sixth-grade Davis Elementary in Costa Mesa is a hot ticket among Newport Beach and Costa Mesa parents, with moms and dads from every elementary school in the district trying to get their kids in the door. Although enrollment just opened for this fall’s inaugural class, about 700 parents have called or e-mailed the school requesting that their children be admitted. In its present form, the school serves 365 students.

Those interested in enrolling their children in a planned math and science magnet school at Davis Elementary next year now have a date for enrollment and a phone number to call. Enrollment for the future kindergarten through sixth-grade magnet school begins March 1, but interested parents can call Barbara Haack at (714) 424-8959 immediately to be added to a list to receive notice about appointments to register. Parents should not go to the Davis campus to enroll their children, according to a news release from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

Books with powerful protagonists are one of the best ways to provide children with the ability to identify with the strength of a character and learn how they too have the potential to rise beyond their own negative traits or situations. Here is a small sample of children’s books, available at the Newport Beach Library, portraying characters with strong attributes. “Ladybug Girl” by Jacky Davis and David Soman: Lulu enjoys zipping around in her ladybug outfit.

A late addition to the field of candidates for Costa Mesa’s three open City Council seats put his name on the ballot with no time to spare Wednesday. High school math teacher Christopher McEvoy, 29, grew up in Costa Mesa and decided to be the ninth contender in the field when he found himself at City Hall to pay a parking fine Tuesday. “I’ve wanted to run for a while, but I had to work on my teaching credential,” McEvoy said. McEvoy, who is known by his friends as Flowbee because of the home haircutting device by that name that he owns, opted not to pay the almost $2,000 fee to put a candidate statement on the ballot, saying he will attempt a grassroots campaign.

When Wilson Lubeck looks at a math problem, it just clicks. The answers, like lightning, flash before him and he jumps to the next problem, sometimes faster than he would like. His teachers, his family and even Wilson describe himself as focused and that diligence has led him to an accomplishment that has administrators and teachers, and some of Wilson’s classmates at Newport Heights Elementary School, cheering. Some classes at the school use Accelerated Math, a program that has students do math on a computer that tracks their progress.

Have you completely forgotten what an Isosceles triangle is? Forget that, do you have trouble figuring the tip at the restaurant? Or maybe the boss has thrown some project at you that exposes your embarrassing deficiency with long division. Never fear, Orange Coast College is offering a four-part workshop, starting next week, designed to boost your math confidence. And don?t worry about a stern instructor with one of those long pointers. This is geared toward the math-phobic.

Faces whitened with flour, aprons stained in smeared chocolate and hands sticky with sugar and egg, Amber Baur’s sixth-graders could have been mistaken for the school’s kitchen staff. Eastbluff Elementary’s School’s multipurpose room was converted into a small bakery for a couple of hours Wednesday when Baur’s class learned fractions in a different, but tasteful way. Baur’s students were using math to reduce recipes meant for several dozen down to enough for a class of 20. If the kids miscalculated, they wouldn’t see any red ink on paper.

UCI Chancellor Michael Drake will announce a multi-million dollar boost to the school?s California Teach Science and Math initiative today, school officials said. The award comes from the science and math initiative?s national body. The California Teach Science and Math Initiative helps prepare future math and science teachers and supports programs that have proven effective in math and science education in the country. The program, still in its infancy, aims to address the massive shortage of qualified math and science teachers in California.

UC Irvine researchers have received about $1 million to develop a training program that will help Compton Unified School District’s kindergarten through second-grade teachers improve math and science instruction. The California Postsecondary Education Commission’s grant will be used to design, oversee and measure the effectiveness of the university’s “Science and Math Impacting Learners of English” project this week. The project stretches over four years and trains 225 teachers in effective techniques on how to reach students learning English as a second language when they study math and science.

Paul Schmitt, founder and president of Create A Skate, came to Newport Heights Elementary School Thursday with a definite message to students: You will have to use math and science in the future. If you want to be a world-class skateboarder, that is. Schmitt, who lives in Newport Beach and operates his manufacturing company out of Costa Mesa, visited Newport Heights along with professional skateboarder Christian Hosoi to deliver board-making supplies to more than 100 students.